"Abnormals" or "exceptions" : the use of technologies for intersex people and people with disabilities

Bodies that are intersex or physically disabled do not conform to socially constructed normative standards. Ideas of normalization pressure people into attempting to achieve a certain kind of body through a variety of measures such as corrective surgeries, rigorous fitness regimes, and medication, among others. Contemporary medicine harbors the notion of the body as an object to be modified and controlled, thus evoking the idea of a completely utopian body that is indestructible, regenerative, and capable of self-healing. This utopian projection of the perfect body is based on the idea of a body with deficits or defects, but whose functions can be realized at an optimal level because of a belief in the possibilities of improvement. In other words, even if the body has defects, they could be corrected and improved upon with medical treatments and surgery in a utopian world. Both feminists and disability theorists have critiqued the “normative” body that is idolized by popular media as well as by many health specialists. Garland-Thomson advocates for a feminist disability theory that can help in critiquing interventions that normalize the nonstandard body. For example, in many cases, intersex children are “normalized” through surgery and “correction” right after birth. People with physical disabilities, too, often undergo a number of interventions through their lifetime in order to fit the normative body stereotypes.